A call center is a specialized central office that is used to handle a large number of incoming calls, or outgoing calls, for a particular purpose. For example, a call center can be used by a company to provide incoming product support to customers or information requests from customers.
The party who is calling into the call center, also known as “the calling party,” typically places a call to a general support number, upon which the call is then assigned a particular call agent based on a variety of well-understood factors. For example, the call can be assigned an agent based on the calling party's particular need for assistance, the agent's expertise, and/or the availability of call agents to handle an incoming call at any particular moment.
A call center often has a large, open workspace to physically accommodate all of the call agents who handle the calls. In order to accommodate a maximum number of call agents, the workspace is typically divided into multiple clusters of workstation areas. Each workstation area accommodates an agent and typically comprises a computer, a telephone, a desk, and a chair within a cubicle or otherwise-partitioned station.
As long as the call center is handling call traffic, in which each agent engaged in a call is speaking at least part of the time, there is an ever-present level of acoustic noise in the background. This is affected by the dimensions of the workspace, the acoustic properties of the workstation areas, and how the call agents are situated relative to one another.